Staff Picks 4 Kids Category: Science Fiction

Hakata Soy is an intergalactic hero. However, that all changes when his parents send him to Astronaut Academy, a space school. Now, instead of saving worlds he has to take classes like Science, which by the way is taught by an elf, and anti-gravity gymnastics. With new friends and a new school, will Hakata ever be happy? This goofy graphic novel is fun to read. It’s not only told from Hakata’s point of view, but also his school friends. It is also broken down into small chapters and the illustrations are great. Check out this graphic novel if you are interested in reading about a crazy school with some very weird students.

Roan’s life is over. He is never going to leave Tatooine. He didn’t get accepted into the Pilot Academy like is father and big brother and is now going to have to go to plant school. However, that changes when he receives an acceptance letter to go to the Jedi Academy. Roan doesn’t think he is a jedi. He’s never done anything like a jedi before, but he decides to go. With the help of his new friends and his teachers, Roan is about to embark on a strange fun adventure at the Jedi Academy. Now, he just has to survive it. This book is part comic, part diary, and part chapter book. Fans of Origami Yoda and Diary of a Wimpy Kid will really like this book.

Zita was just playing finders-keepers with her friend Joseph when they came across a giant hole with a meteoroid sitting at the bottom. However, when Zita went to explore, instead of finding a rock, she found a device with a giant red button. When she pressed it, Joseph is taken through a portal. Zita presses the button again to see if she can rescue him. Now, Zita is on a planet with a bunch of different aliens and has to try to save Joseph from the dangerous Scriptorians. How will she ever make everything right again?

Do you ever think about the future? Well what if that future world isn’t so great? The Tomorrow Girls series takes place in a not so distant future just like that. Two girls, Maddie and Louisa, from Chicago get sent away to a boarding school for safety. The girls pretend to be twins so both can attend the school. Just when it looks like Maddie and Louisa will get caught, it turns out they have bigger problems. Their school is secretly a training camp for the enemy. The girls run away with their roommates, Evelyn and Rosie, and try to make it back to Chicago. This is a suspense filled dystopian series where each of the four books is from a different girl’s point of view. Give this series a try if you are too young for the Hunger Games or if you have already read them and want something new.

I rarely read past the first book in a series, so it says a lot that I can’t wait to read book 2 of “The Missing” series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Book 1, Found, is a fast-paced, action-packed thriller. It begins when 13-year-old Jonah gets a letter in the mail with just six words: “YOU ARE ONE OF THE MISSING.” The plot thickens as Jonah, his friend Chip, and his sister Katherine gather clues about disappearing airplanes, stolen babies, and the FBI.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. Just the title makes me want to find out more. I don’t like being left out of a good secret, and neither does gifted orphan Renyie Muldoon, the hero of this post’s book. He takes a test at the urgings of his tutor only to find out that he has been recruited by a narcoleptic genius to infiltrate an isolated school. He, along with three other talented children, must attend the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened and find the cause of hidden messages being broadcast around the world by its strange founder, Mr. Curtain, all without anyone catching onto their secret mission or being brainwashed.